Prevention of burning to VCD?

[stoogmeister]

I have downloaded a movie file from a website but I'm unable to convert it to VCD format without losing the audio. Is it possible that they (the website) have done something to the file which makes this happen?

[alunrw]

It may be because the size is too big for a Video CD - I had a similar problem whereby, although the file size of the MPEG/.AVI file shows 700mb (same size as the CDR) when you convert it, the size expands to something like 1.1gb as the Audio/Video tracks are separate - im far from an expert but now convert them to DVD instead and get two to a disc - I have also though had one or two that do NOT have sound, so it could be a problem with the site? Not a satisfactory answer I know, but some of these are trial and error i'm afraid.

[stoogmeister]

It's not the size of the file that is the problem. The file is just under half an hour long which is even small enough for SVCD (estimated size after conversion is 522Mb). Not only that but I'm also converting the file with an encoding program, not a burning program so the size of the file shouldn't matter anyway. I should also say that the program is sometimes forced to close when I open the file with the program. There is no particular error message with details, just a generic message. I've also looked at the file properties which say it's not protected.
Thanks for trying to help, alunrw.